Yoshi's Story: The Outcasts
by EkaSwede
Summary: Albin was always considered strange by the other yoshis for being colourless. When the Super Happy Tree disappeared, Albin was blamed. On the run from the other six yoshis, Albin befriends a black yoshi accused for being feral and they both search for the Super Happy Tree.
1. Page 0: Party Preparation

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters in this story. That right goes to their respective owners.

**A/N:** Well, I never thought I'd be starting yet another story. And to think it'd be a novelization for a game that is probably about 20 years old or more. I always had a soft spot for this game, and there doesn't seem to be a complete novelization, I decided to give it a go. Of course, Yoshi's Story isn't quite known for a deep story, so some liberties will be taken. Hopefully I don't overdo it. Also gotta watch the ratings; can't get too crazy here, right?

**AU: **This story is set a while after Yoshi's Island and has no connection to the sequels.

Without any further ado, I bring you:

_**Yoshi's Story: The Outcasts**_

_**Page 0: Party Preparation**_

Far out in the tropical sea, there existed a large, lush and colourful island. Stationed far away from the main continents, the island was very isolated. This island was the home of the multi coloured dinosaur species known as the yoshis.

The yoshis were a carefree, happy species. They lived at the far west of the island, having established a large village in which they spent all days living the laid back tropical life by day, and partying wildly during the night. The yoshis were also a very peaceful species with their main diets consisting of mainly sweet tasting fruits.

Most of these fruits came from the very magical Super Happy Tree, an odd looking plant that not only sprouted many different delicious fruits, but also the incredibly rare heart fruit. A heart fruit could turn the saddest into the happiest on the island in one gulp. And as with its magical properties, the Super Happy Tree would never ever run out of its fruit.

Today's party preparations were more special than any other day of the month. Today was the Full Moon Celebration. That day of the month was always seen as a big party day for the bright light the full moon provided during the night. Every Yoshi was happy while they prepared, anticipating another energetic party with new music, dances and other fun ways of living life to its fullest.

Well, not all yoshis.

Sitting at the top of a village hut roof was one sole yoshi, looking down at the other brightly coloured yoshis with a silent sigh. This yoshi wasn't like the other. He was called 'the colourless yoshi'. He was the only white yoshi in the village.

While an easy-going species, the yoshis found the lone white yoshi to be a strange thing. Some even thought he was an ill omen. But most of the adult yoshis still did their best to treat him well. But many of the younger yoshis, particularly those who were close to the white yoshi's age, tended to tease him more.

This didn't mean the white yoshi was completely without friends, however, for he spotted a light blue yoshi running towards him down at the ground. The light blue yoshi skid to a stop when he spotted the white yoshi at the roof and waved up towards him cheerfully to get his attention.

"Albin!" the light blue yoshi hollered with excitement, "I've been looking all over for ya!"

The white yoshi smiled, happy to see a friend. "Watcha want, Cerule?" he asked the light blue yoshi back in an equally, although forced, cheery tone.

"I need help with this new song I'm trying to make up and I'm tryin' to find a good dance for it!"

Albin looked up from Cerule and towards the vast fields outside the village he was looking over before his friend had showed up. "I dunno if I can help. Was… day dreaming a little…" he trailed off.

"Oh don't be a sulky-pulky!" Cerule exclaimed cheerfully. "Full Moon Celebration's tonight and I wanna make it extra special!"

Albin giggled and looked down at Cerule. He stood up and hopped from rooftop to rooftop until he was on a roof low enough to jump down and break the fall with a flutter jump without any risk of accidental injury. Heights weren't something he was afraid of. Something he had in common with Cerule, except that he had an easier time getting up to those high places by jumping while Cerule would have to climb.

"What kind of special you have in mind?" he asked.

Cerule put his hand under his mouth and rubbed it as he glanced up thoughtfully. "Ya know, like… something really cool. I wanna show I can come up with something fun that'll be talked about."

"Lemme guess, you're gonna involve me in it?" Albin asked with a sly, playful look on his face.

"Maaaaaybe?" Cerule answered back with a playful grin.

Albin's smile faded and he glanced away. "I dunno about that…"

"Oh come on! You've never been to a Full Moon Celebration before!" Cerule argued. "You always shy away from big events!"

Shuffling his heels on the ground, Albin looked down thoughtfully. Despite doing his best to ignore it, he didn't like when the other yoshis gave him those weird and wary looks. His parents were a light blue and light green yoshi, so why couldn't he have gotten either of those colours? Or maybe it had something to do with him having hatched during the full moon?

"Hey." Cerule tapped him on the shoulder to get him to snap out of his thoughts. "Ignore what the others say about you, okay?" he comforted him. "You're still my friend, and I think you're a funny guy once you turn that pouty snouty into a happy… uh… ehm…apple-lee?" He shrugged with a goofy expression on his face.

Albin laughed. "Well, that helped a bit," he then said, feeling a little better.

Cerule gave him a cheerful double thumbs up. "Great! So ya up for it?" Albin nodded. "Woo, we sure gonna put on a good show then, right?"

"What you have in mind?" Albin asked, tilting his head.

"Well… I've been working on a song, but it needs some good dancing to it. And you can do some good jumps, right?"

Albin shrugged. "Sure. Where we gonna practice? If we stick around here we might get roped into helping other yoshis out with preparing the party."

"We could sneak outside," Cerule suggested.

Albin looked towards the nearest palisade. The yoshi village had a long wooden palisade that ran around the large village. Inside was always safe, but the outside areas were also considered safe to be around day time. There were barely any dangerous creatures out at day and probably not at night either. Young yoshis weren't allowed to go outside without an adult accompanying them.

"I dunno," Albin said reluctantly. "What if your older sister finds out?"

"Nah, Blouise is busy helping out with the decorations right now," Cerule promptly replied.

Albin fidgeted a little. "Well, I guess we could try sneaking out, then," he then agreed.

Cerule did a small jump in joy. "Awesome! This's gonna be the best Full Moon Celebration ever!" he cheered excitedly before they both headed to the nearest unsupervised part of the palisade. Most yoshis were busy with the preparations, after all.

**oOoOo**

Far, far away from the yoshi's village, there was a large castle on a solitary island not far from the island itself. The small island the castle resided on was much, much smaller than the island the yoshis lived on, and the castle itself had a dark, uninviting design to it. Not that the latter part mattered to the yoshis on their island; they barely knew of the dark castle's existence. After all, any area past the green fields outside the village were strictly off limits.

At this time of the day, there was currently a lot of racket going on inside the castle.

"But I dun wanna do studies noooow!" a small spike shelled turtle complained loudly. The young koopa picked up a book and chucked it out of the nearest window.

A mere moment after the book had flown out of the rocky square window, it flew back in gently surrounded with a light blue aura around it. The book sailed across the room and landed in the yellow hands of a much older koopa, only this one did not possess a shell, but wore a light blue robe and a matching, pointy wizard hat. Gripping the book tightly, the magikoopa set down his magic wand on his lectern and used his free hand to adjust his glasses that were so thick it was difficult to see his eyes behind them.

"Young prince Bowser," the magikoopa spoke with a firm patient voice. "It is very important to study so you can sharpen your mind."

A very young Bowser let out a loud defiant growl and grabbed hold of another, thinner book. "Why amn't I da king already?" He tossed it at his teacher who swiftly caught the object with his levitation spell. "I dun need studyin' when my future subjects can do that for me, Kamek!"

Kamek sighed in defeat and sat down on his chair. He slumped down over the lectern in exasperation. There were no limits to how spoiled that little brat was. And to think he was the future king according to the koopa prophecy. But this one had been so temperamental and snotty it took all of Kamek's patience not to snap. He was his caretaker, after all. It was a duty he was bound to.

"Well, I'm bored with dis!" Bowser then spat out, hopping off his bench. "Now's my royal playtime anyways," he declared with a nasty grin as he went towards the door.

Kamek didn't object when the young koopa prince strutted out of the lecture room. He knew that he was going to receive a fireball to his face if he raised his voice any more times in a succession. He didn't want to risk the possibility of his valuable books of knowledge be burnt to a crisp. Robes and pointy hats he had plenty of replacements of.

The magikoopa stood up and started to pick up the other thrown books that ill-mannered child had thrown about. He did appreciate the young Bowser's level of wickedness. That trait would be good to threaten the other kingdoms into submission. But even Kamek knew that brute force wasn't the only thing one would need to succeed. A quick thinking mind and sharp wit would be needed as well, but Bowser only wanted to flaunt around like a spoiled child.

After he had organized the books neatly in the bookcase, he looked out of the window. He looked towards the direction of where the yoshi village was located and narrowed his eyes. He searched for his spyglass and peeked through it to get a closer look at those despicably happy creatures. Kamek grit his teeth as he watched them, for memories of the last encounter Bowser and he had had with them started to stir up. It was because of these dastardly dinosaurs that Bowser had gotten so much nastier than before. But at least he and Kamek had their hatred towards those yoshis in common.

He stopped looking through his spyglass and folded it. He clenched his fist when he thought about how they had spoiled his plan to rid those repugnant plumbers that would once become a thorn in his master's side. That whole incident had almost cost them an entire castle, and he had vowed that he wouldn't try to alter fate nor gaze into the future for quite some time.

But that was that. Despite his grudge against those multi coloured dinos, he saw little point in meddling with them for now. But so help him if they would hold any more of those loud nightly parties with those firework shows.

**oOoOo**

Out in the green fields outside the yoshi village, Cerule and Albin were practicing their moves they would do on the night's celebration.

"No, no, no! Not like that!" Cerule yelled after Albin had ended up landing face down. "The third jump's just supposed to be a normal jump we both do with an aerial high five!"

Albin got up and dusted off his tummy. "Sorry. It's hard to memorize everything at such a short notice."

Cerule smiled. "It's alright. There's quite some time before the sun starts settin' so we have time to pull it off."

The white yoshi forced a smile back at his friend, and clenched his fists with determination. "Alright, I can do this! The refrain is tricky, but if we can pull it off, it'll be one heck of a show, right?"

"Yeah!" the light blue yoshi cheered with an excited jump. "It'll be song to remember! We could turn the dance into a game too. Like… games of happiness?"

Albin stretched his legs to ready himself for another repetition of Cerule's made up song. It was cheery and helped him clear his thoughts.

"CERULE!"

Both yoshis froze when they heard the loud yell from behind them. They simultaneously looked over their shoulders to see a very angry blue yoshi stomping towards them. A red and a purple yoshi was following her. Albin quickly shrank behind Cerule's back.

Cerule himself tried to step back, but bumped into the white yoshi currently hiding behind him. He nervously waved at the blue yoshi. "H-hi, sis," he greeted sheepishly, "H'how you d-doing?"

"How long have you been playing with that colourless yoshi outside the village?" Blouise sternly asked him.

Cerule gulped and saw the other two yoshis flanking her. "We weren't playing, we were just-"

"_He_ put you up to this, didn't he?" the red yoshi spat out in a harsh tone, pointing an accusing finger at Albin. Albin trembled as he was trying to hide behind Cerule.

"Stop it, Reddic, he didn't," Cerule said back. "I dragged him out here! We were going to practice for a song for tonight!"

Blouise rolled her eyes and grabbed Cerule's arm. "That's enough outta you, buster!" She began to pull him with her. "We're going back home and hope to the stars that we don't get in trouble for this!"

"Ow, sis! Stop, you're pulling too hard!" Cerule complained as he was dragged away by the blue yoshi.

Now that Albin was without a hiding place, he started to back away from the approaching red yoshi. Out of all the yoshi's his age, Reddic was the one who disliked him the most. He was often at the receiving end of Reddic's teasing. He tried to circle around the angry red yoshi while he was backing off and make a break for the village, but when he made the dash he felt Reddic's strong hand grab him at the back of his neck.

"Oh, no you don't, Squeaky!" he growled as he tossed Albin on his back. Before the white yoshi could stand up, Reddic put his foot on his chest to keep him down. "See what you did? You got li'l Cerule into trouble again."

"Come on, Reddic, why even bother with him," the purple yoshi told him, grabbing his free hand.

"Later, Fiola, I'm just going to make sure this little colourless loser knows his place!" he reassured her.

Albin struggled weakly under Reddic's shoe. "Leave me alone, you big jerk."

Reddic flashed a grin- "You know, maybe I should do you a favour and give you some colour."

"What do you mean?" Albin questioned before Reddic stepped off him and quickly grabbed him by the neck. Reddic then heaved him up to a stand and twisted one of Albin's arms to keep him restrained. "Ow, stop it!"

Reddic then tripped Albin down face first and dragged him along the grass for a short distance. He then pulled the white yoshi up again and shoved him down on to his back. "There, now you've got some proper colours!" he boasted as he dusted off his hands with a satisfied grin.

Albin sat up and clutched his chest in pain. He had gotten several grass stains on his chest. "You're a jerk!" he cried at him, his voice strained from the slight burning pain on his front side.

"And you're just a li'l weakling!" Reddic spat back as he towered over Albin. "A little crybaby."

Albin closed his eyes as hard as he could. He didn't want to give Reddic the pleasure of seeing him cry. But he could already feel his eyes drying up and before he knew it he could feel some tears trickling down his cheeks.

"Haha, look he's already crying!" Reddic laughed, pointing down at him.

Fiola sighed and shook her head. "Look, Reddie, let's just go back now, okay? I don't wanna be grounded from the party if my parents find out."

"Yeah, yeah," Reddic agreed begrudgingly. He walked back towards the village with Fiola holding his hand.

Albin slowly picked himself up. He glared at the two yoshis that left and wiped his tears. He was still sniffling from his now stuffed nose. He knew he'd stand no chance against that stupid red yoshi anyways; he was really, really strong amongst the children. He had beaten quite a few strength records already and was so full of himself of it.

He saw Reddic look over his shoulder, sporting a smug grin. "You better not be around for the Full Moon Celebration! How about you just sit out here and stare at the moon like you always do instead?" He laughed for a short while before Fiola pinched his cheek.

Albin bit his lip and pouted. He wiped a few more tears off his face and tried to get himself to stop crying.

Once Reddic and Fiola were out of sight, Albin started to amble towards the village. Trying to keep himself at high spirits, he hummed the song Cerule had been working on. But even though he tried, the song just came out as too sombre, no matter how much he tried to cheer himself up. His parents would no doubt find out of Cerule's and his little adventure and he would probably be grounded or a few days after.


	2. Page 0: Party Night

_**Page 0: Party Night**_

Kamek walked back up to his private library for some evening studies after he had been done feeding Bowser his dinner. The magikoopa figured he could get some intellectual reading done before it was time for the little scamp's bed time. He really wished the kid would grow up to be interested in _some_ kind of literature in the future, for he feared if the future king would remodel all the castle libraries in favour of something stupid.

Bowser had grown some bit during the last few months, though. He was going to grow into a large, majestic koopa king. But at the same time Kamek feared he would be too much of a simpleton. But that was why he was the caretaker; to help educate the young king.

While he could hear Bowser play loudly with his toys and boss the various castle guards around, he knew that would eventually quiet down. But before that, he picked out a book about the history of the Mushroom Kingdom to mark out key points of history he would teach Bowser. After all, knowing one's enemy was a way of conquering them. He also pulled out a tome to make sure he widened his arsenal of spells.

He may have been a talented magikoopa at a younger age, but that was mostly through his ability to harness powerful magic spells. That was also what may have led to their failure to capture those babies back then. How could he have been so foolish to only rely on spells making the enemies bigger? Sure, they got more powerful, but ended up being slower and just as dumb as before.

He sat down on his desk and lit a candle. It was already starting to get dark outside, but at the same time that meant the island would get quieter as well. He decided to put the history book aside for now and study some of the spells in the tome instead. Nothing would beat a quiet night's spell reading, but he'd soon get that when His Majesty had gone to bed.

It was then he started to hear some mild noise coming from outside along with some colourful lights. Annoyed, Kamek grabbed his spyglass and looked out the window.

"Oh no, it's this time of the month…" he groaned as he spied at the yoshi village. He could see those disgustingly happy dinos partying already, and today was their idiotic party celebrating the full moon or something. "Well, there goes the peaceful night study!" he muttered.

"Kamek!" Bowser kicked the door open to Kamek's library, startling him enough for him to almost drop his spyglass. "I'm boooored!" the baby koopa complained. He saw what Kamek was doing and tilted his head in slight curiosity. "Whatcha lookin' at? Birds?"

Kamek caught his spyglass after having fumbled it and turned around to face his master. He readjusted his pointy hat and gave a respectful bow. "With all due respect, your wickedness, but please don't burst into my private library like that."

"I'm royal, I do what I want!" Bowser shot back, crossing his arms. He then reached out with one clawed hand and snapped his fingers. "Gimme da lookie thingy, I wants to see what you were lookin' at."

Kamek walked up to Bowser and placed the spyglass in his palm. The young prince giggled and ran up to the window. He was slightly taller than Kamek so he wasn't in a need of a stool or anything. His grin quickly turned upside down into a hateful snarl. He threw the spyglass over his shoulder with rage and turned around to face Kamek who had already caught said object.

"WHY YOUSE LOOKIN' AT THEM STUPID YOSHI-DONKEYS?" Bowser screamed with fire coming out of his mouth.

Fortunately for Kamek, the fire burst was wide and not very accurate. "They were being noisy again so I investigated. I'm afraid today's going to be another one of those very loud parties," he explained while dousing the flames.

"GRRRR!" Bowser growled. "I hate those stupid dino-donkeys! I hate how happy dey are all da time and their stupid bright colours! Hate 'em, hate 'em, HATE THEM!" he roared, throwing a tantrum.

Kamek crossed his arms and frowned. "I share your sentiment regarding those yoshis, my lord," he simply said.

"Then destroy'em! Dat's an order!" the young koopa prince ordered, pointing at the window.

The magikoopa rolled his eyes. "It's not that simple." This earned him a glare that could split a thwomp in two. "I can't just conjure a spell to not only take a life, but this many lives at such an impossibly short notice! Besides, if we would attack them, we'd be sure to receive a much larger and aggressive response than the time we attempted to rid those Mario brothers!"

The young prince let out another childish roar and kicked a chair across the library. "It's not fair!" he complained as he paced back and forth. "Stupid happy dancing dummies… Dey oughta be my slaves working for me…" he grumbled as Kamek shook his head in dismay. "Can'tcha make 'em miserable?" he then asked Kamek.

Kamek rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm…" he hummed, thinking hard. He then snapped his fingers and walked up to the bookshelves and ran his finger along the books until he found the one he was looking for. He quickly put it on his desk and opened it up, skimming quickly through the pages.

"Ka-MEK!" Bowser yelled. "I wanted you to find a way to make 'em miserable, not read a boring book!"

Kamek looked up from his book and suddenly grinned wickedly. "I believe you gave me a very splendid idea, my lord. All the yoshis will be gathered in their village right now and this is the perfect time for this one spell I've been looking at!"

Bowser's eyes lit up with excitement. "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!" he cheered, clapping his hands.

Kamek held up a hand. "It will take time to prepare, I'm afraid. And I would like to request I be left alone so I can concentrate on making sure the spell comes out just right. Magic is a difficult thing, after all."

"I wanna see," Bowser complained, "you sound really evil and I wanna learn that kind of stuff!"

Kamek looked at his master for a short while and then gave a short nod. His grin widened into an open smile. "How nice to see Your Majesty interested in magic studies for once. Just be careful not to touch anything and try watching closely."

**oOoOo**

Once the sun had fully set, the Full Moon Celebration party had gone into full swing. Everywhere there was music from mainly drums and flutes, long buffet tables with a lot of fruits, and a lot of dancing, singing yoshis of many colours.

Cerule was amongst a couple of yoshis involved in a long conga train, moving to the rhythm of the music happily as they marched around the place. Despite having gone outside the village unsupervised and gotten grounded for it, he was allowed to participate in the festivities for the sake of fun. But the days after he would be grounded according to his parents, so he had to make sure he had as much fun as possible.

The light blue yoshi slipped out of the conga train, something that usually went unnoticed since another yoshi would happily slip into the train to fill the gap. He hadn't seen Albin for the entirety of the party yet and was worried if he had gotten grounded this night. But he really doubted Albin's parents would do that, for they still loved him despite his white colour. Or maybe Reddic had been really mean to him again; he saw him with his girlfriend when Blouise dragged him back home.

He gambolled in rhythm to the music towards the hut Albin lived at. While he had failed to make up some good lyrics and dance number to the song, the older yoshis had taken a liking to it when he demonstrated it prior to the party. He was happy they were currently playing. It made him feel a little accomplished.

"Yo, Cerule!" a familiar voice hollered through the music. He looked over to see a green and a yellow yoshi beckoning him. "Where ya headed?" the green yoshi asked.

Cerule did a stationary march to the rhythm. "I was just going to see where Albin's at!" he replied. Despite most of the younger yoshis thinking Albin was weird, Cerule wasn't shy of letting them know he was a friend of his.

The green yoshi looked at the yellow, and then back at Cerule. "Gulric here told me Reddic threatened to beat Albin up if he showed up tonight."

The yellow yoshi put his hand on his hip and rolled his eyes. "I frankly fail to understand what that self-proclaimed village hero's issue is with that white yoshi," he expressed himself in a rather annoyed tone.

"Well, there kinda is somethin' weird with him," the green yoshi stated.

"You better be talking about Reddic, Walder!" Cerule cried, having stopped his stationary march. He was clenching both his fists as he glared at the green yoshi. "There's nothing weird about Albin! He's just as fun to be with as anyone else!"

Walder held up his hands in a defensive stance and smiled back at Cerule. "Hey, now, I didn't mean it like that! It's just… it's just…" he trailed off trying to explain himself.

"I would say it has to do with his peculiar taste for peppers," Gulric said, "at least that is what I believe. Reddic wasn't very happy when he managed to eat a whole pepper as a test of strength when Albin came along and ended up eating the whole bowl."

Cerule's jaw dropped slightly. "So, what? Just because he happens to like peppers he's weird?"

Gulric raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "From what I know it is a shared trait with black yoshis," he firmly stated.

The light blue yoshi's eyes widened with shock and anger. "How _dare_ you compare him to those _savages_?" he spat out, really angry now. The yellow yoshi flinched from Cerule's outburst. "He's nothing like them! Apologize!" Cerule then demanded.

"Sorry…" Gulric promptly apologized, uncrossing his arms and putting them behind his back. "It was inappropriate for me to parrot hearsay from some of the other yoshis." Cerule just huffed in response.

Walder stepped in between the two yoshis. "Hey, how about less of this and more happy dancing?" he suggested. The two other yoshis nodded and eventually shook hands. Walder laughed and put each arm over each yoshi's shoulder respectively. "So how about we go pick Albin up? Who knows, maybe he'll do really well at the limbo?"

"I recall Reddic had decided to hang out with Fiola most of the night, so he might not spot Albin," Gulric assured.

Cerule rolled his eyes. At least that stupid red yoshi would be preoccupied by her. He then walked ahead with Walder and Gulric following him. Even though the two were Cerule's friends as well, he didn't like their slight doubts about Albin. All this stuff about Albin being an ill omen was just stupid talk the adult yoshis were spreading around. He forced his usual happy expression while trying to push aside the fact that Gulric had compared Albin to those black yoshis.

Black yoshis had been considered extinct for some time. There were stories about them having suddenly snapped into a vicious, feral rage. During this rage they attacked all the other yoshis, be it through ripping them apart or even _eating_ them. No one knew when it had happened but some older yoshis were plagued with nightmares from the tragic and terrifying event. It was possible that it had traumatized so many older yoshis that survived they had suffered from amnesia.

Cerule shuddered, not wanting to think about it anymore. Eventually he reached Albin's hut and gently knocked on the door.

"Go away, I'm not going out!" Albin's voice cried back in response.

"It's me, buddy," Cerule spoke through the closed door. "You didn't get grounded, did you?" Cerule could hear approaching steps from the other side of the door and eventually it was slowly opened.

Albin peeked out from the side of the door. "No… not for tonight, but for a week after that…" he replied quietly. He looked past Cerule and spotted Walder and Gulric. "H-hi, guys…" He waved at them shyly.

"Come on, join the fun for once," Walder told him, playfully beckoning him to come out. "You're gonna end up too miserable if you're gonna sit here and sulk all night!"

Gulric crossed his arms. "And there is no need to fear Reddic's threat," he assured Albin.

Albin looked down and then opened the door fully to walk outside. Just as he had made his way out, Cerule playfully grabbed his arm and pulled him into a playful and short hug.

"That's the spirit!" he cheered, letting go of Albin. "It's time to PARTY! DANCE! SING! GAMES! LOTS O' FRUIT!" he then exclaimed, performing a silly pose after the other for each activity he loudly shouted. He then did a short tap dance that Gulric and Walder imitated as best as they could.

Albin giggled. "So, what's first?" he asked, feeling the urge to do the same silly dance Cerule was doing.

"Limbo Time!" both Gulric and Walder exclaimed, grinning widely. Albin shrugged and was about to walk towards the limbo area when Cerule quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

The light blue Yoshi wagged his finger playfully. "No, no, no," he said quickly with his usual excited smile. "No walking!" He clapped his hands and started a silly march. "We shall conga all the way there!" He took the lead and started to conga while Gulric and Walder formed a line behind him. Albin joined in and the result was a four yoshi conga line.

"One, two, three, kick!" Walder shouted and everyone did a little kick to the side.

"Five, six, seven, clap!" Cerule exclaimed as everyone raised their hands over their heads and clapped once.

The four yoshis all warbled happily as the led their own little conga train towards the limbo event. While they weren't completely synchronized, it was the fun they were having that mattered the most to them. Their conga train grew in size when other yoshis joined the fun, but they soon left to head to some other event.

Eventually they reached the limbo event to see other yoshis competing who could not only go the lowest, but also how low for the longest distance. The four yoshis got in the queue for the limbo to see how well each and one of them could do.

When their turns came, Cerule went first. He managed to get under the first few easy bars, but slipped on the fourth and landed on his back. He got up and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck before he let the next yoshi take his turn. He saw that it was Albin and the white yoshi already seemed a little nervous with everyone else looking at him.

"Come on, Albin, you can do it!" he cheered through the other cheering yoshis. At least the grownups didn't make a big deal out of Albin's colour during the party. They were clapping their hands to the rhythm of the current drum beat.

Albin clenched his fists with determination and went forward. He bent back and passed the first bar with ease, and managed to pass a few more. Trying to get as low as he could he managed to pass one more bar than Cerule before he lost balanced and fell over. Blushing, he hurried back to where Cerule was.

"Hey, don't worry, Albin. You did great," he comforted him. "It's all about the fun!" He patted the white yoshi's back.

Albin rubbed the back of his neck with a slight smile. "Heh, thanks. It seemed tricky at first," he said as they both watched Walder take his turn. Albin's shoulder slumped down when he saw the green yoshi quickly clearing bar after bar, only to fall over at the last bar. "Huh, maybe it was easier than I thought?"

"Don't feel bad," Cerule cheered him up, "you did better than me. Walder's been training a lot for this month's limbo."

"Yeah, he couldn't beat the record Reddic made last month," a new voice chimed in cheerfully, catching the two yoshis by surprise. When they both looked to who was speaking, Cerule immediately started to blush while Albin just looked at her warily.

"Oh, h-hi Fusia," Cerule stuttered as he waved nervously at the pink yoshi.

"Hi, Cerule," she greeted back, "say, I heard you had a nice dance number planned out for tonight?"

Cerule grinned nervously. "Well, I never got time to train it up with Albin here." He nudged Albin's side with his elbow. "We got kinda caught outside and-"

"Yeah, I heard about that. Albin wanted to practice outside and got you grounded for it."

"No it wasn't his fault!" Cerule shot back, "I was the one who suggested us training outside the village."

Fusia rolled her eyes and nodded towards the white yoshi. "Alright, sorry about that, Albin," she apologized.

"So, yeah, you know where Reddic is?" Cerule then asked her. He knew that Fusia would know since her and Reddic were siblings.

"Oh don't worry about him. He's all over his girlfriend Fiola. Said something about wanting to spend the night with her and take it a step further or something like that," she replied dismissively. "I guess he has it out for you again, Albin?"

Albin nodded weakly as he shied away a little. "Y-yeah."

Fusia sighed. "Well, I wished I could talk him out of that, but he seems to become a completely different yoshi whenever your name's mentioned."

"He's a childish jerk," Cerule pointed out.

"Yep," Fusia agreed, "but less about him and more about the party. How about you 'n I try some dance out together? Complete improv!"

Cerule blushed again and glanced at Albin. "Uh, j-just the two of us?"

"Yeah, don't worry about little Albin, he'll be fine. As I said, Reddic's too busy with his girlfriend and Gulric and Walder can keep him company."

Cerule rubbed the back of his neck nervously and kept glancing at Albin. "Uhm ,you okay with this, buddy?" he asked him.

Albin's shoulders slumped down a bit. "I guess," he said with a sigh. "I could try out the eating contest."

"That's the spirit!" Cerule cheered, "Watch out for Gulric, though. He's a rea big eater!" he warned playfully as Fusia grabbed his hand and started tugging him away. "Seeya soon!"

Albin waved goodbye to his friend with a forced smile. He knew that Cerule did have a soft spot for that pink yoshi. He also knew that probably put those two in a difficult situation when it came to Reddic. He looked over towards Walder and Gulric and saw that the latter had just failed his try at the limbo.

"Darn it, I was so close to beating Reddic's record!" Walder complained as he and Gulric were approaching Albin. "Can't believe I tripped up at that last bar!"

"To be fair he set a pretty good record both this and the last month," Gulric said back.

Walder clenched his fists with frustration. "Oh I'm _so_ gonna crush his broad jump record this time!"

Gulric chuckled lightly and then looked at Albin. "Hey, where did Cerule go?" he asked him.

"Oh, he went with Fusia to do some dancing or something."

Both Walder and Gulric looked at each other for a while, glancing at Albin every now and then. Albin was starting to get a sinking feeling when he saw the two yoshis exchange some quick and silent words to each other. He could make out some of them, such as 'bad luck' and 'nervous around him'.

"Well, Gulric and I was going to head off to the hi-jumping contest," Walder started.

"I'm good at jumping," Albin spoke up hopefully.

Walder stuttered at first. "Did I say hi-jump? I meant uh…" Gulric quickly elbowed his side. "the sprinting contest, yeah. And then the broad jump. And you're not good at flutter jumping, right? Well, gotta go, seeya later!" he then quickly blurted out as both he and Gulric left Albin to be on his own.

Albin watched as the green and the yellow yoshi disappeared into the crowd of other yoshis. He stood there for many minutes looking at the ground. It was so typical of those other yoshis to ditch him once Cerule wasn't around anymore. But he couldn't blame them; he was weird to them and they probably didn't want to be seen around him like most other yoshis. He figured that was what Fusia was aiming for as well when she was trying to get Cerule for herself.

Drawing a heavy sigh, he started ambling towards where the fruit eating contest was. At least he could shift his focus on something really tasty instead. It felt strange being around so many yoshis at once and still feel so alone at the same time. He could almost feel himself shrink away from the other yoshis. He was starting to think that maybe he should just have stayed at home.

He tried to take a page out of Cerule's cheerfulness and try to dance his way towards the fruit eating contest. He started his own attempt at a conga line, but his enthusiasm for it died when he was met with awkward, distancing looks from the other yoshis. He drew a heavy sigh and decided to just walk there while forcing a happy smile. It was the Full Moon Celebration, after all. But even though he tried to keep his head high, he eventually slumped down and looked at the ground as he walked.

He bumped into a blue yoshi. When she turned around he quickly recognized her as Blouise. She didn't look too pleased seeing him.

"Oh, it's you," she spoke up, her words covered in distaste.

Albin took a step back. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

Blouise put a hand on her hips. "Nice going getting me and Cerule grounded."

"Stop it, it wasn't my fault!" Albin protested.

"Pfeh, I can't understand what Cerule sees in you, Colourless!"

Albin pouted. "He's nice, unlike the rest of you!"

Blouise's stare narrowed, causing Albin to take another step back. "He doesn't know any better! You're going to end up cursing him or something."

"Quit it! Can you stop being so mean about my colour!" Albin piped back.

"So get outta my sight before I throw an egg at you!" she threatened.

Albin wasted no time turning around ran away from her. He managed to hold his tears back as he ran. There was no way he was going to cry this night, or the adult yoshis would ask him what was wrong and then set off a chain of events that would end up Cerule and his friends getting blamed and then Albin himself inevitably getting in trouble with the other younger yoshis for it. It was already as bad as things could go.

He just wanted to go home and lock himself in his hut for the rest of the night. After that he would actually _cherish_ his house arrest for the next incoming week. His vision was getting blurry from the tears that were building up in his eyes and he had difficulties seeing where he was going again. He stumbled into an orange yoshi about to try an egg toss, causing the orange yoshi to toss it way off target.

"What gives?" the orange yoshi cried out as he turned around to face Albin. Seeing his teary eyes, he softened up a little bit. "Hey, something the matter, kid?"

"N-no, just… uh… pepper," Albin quickly lied, having been knocked back by the impact.

The orange yoshi extended his hand to help Albin to his feet. "I see. You gotta be careful with that type of challenge. You're still a bit too young for that," he told him with a concerned smile. Albin let out a quiet sigh of relief when the adult yoshi bought his white lie. But he also felt a little bad having to resort to that.

"I wonder where that egg went…" the orange yoshi then mused, looking into the distance. "Oh well. Just sit tight here and I'll get you something that'll help ease the spicy burn, alright?" he then proposed, patting Albin's head before he walked off to get some fruit.

Albin wiped his tears and stood up. He was contemplating whether he should wait for the orange yoshi to come back or sneak away back to home. That orange yoshi was obviously an adult so he didn't seem to care that much about Albin's colour.

"Alright, Apel, what the heck gives!" an angry voice shouted from the direction the egg had accidentally been thrown. Albin recognized the voice and froze up with fear. He wanted to run away but his entire body just seemed locked into place. Out from the crowd emerged a very angry looking red yoshi whose face was covered in chunks of watermelon.

When Reddic spotted Albin sitting on the ground, his eyes narrowed. "_You…"_ he hissed at him dangerously, baring his teeth.

"I-i-i-it w-w-wasn't-" Albin stuttered helplessly, but Reddic just stomped up to him and grabbed him by his neck. He then yanked him up to a stand and grabbed his shoulder.

"How about you and I have a _friendly_ little chat?" he suggested through clenched teeth.

Albin knew that there was no way Reddic was going to beat him up in the vicinity of other yoshis, especially not on a night like this. But on the other hand if he'd cry out for help Reddic would most likely get back at him ten times more some later day. Just wanting to get it over with, he nodded weakly as he stared fearfully into Reddic's piercing gaze.

Reddic gave him a nasty grin as he reaffirmed his grip so he was holding onto Albin's upper arm. He then proceeded to drag him to the edge of the village and eventually sneak outside.


	3. Page 0: Party Problems

_**Page 0: Party Problems**_

"Oh, you're really in for it now, Squeaky!" Reddic sneered when he tossed Albin down at the ground. They were both well outside the village walls and the only thing lighting up the dark night was the party lights from the village and the full moon. "I warned you not to show your stupid face at the party and now look what's gonna happen to you!"

Albin tried to crawl away from the angry red yoshi. "Leave me alone!" he squeaked with fright in his voice.

"You think you're so clever getting one yoshi to 'accidentally' toss an egg at the back of my head?" he growled, stalking Albin as he tried to crawl away from him. "Made me split open a watermelon with my head and cover my entire face in it! And right in front of Fiola!" He moved forwards suddenly, as if to try and kick Albin while he was down.

Albin let out a frightened yelp as he covered his eyes. He slowly peeked in between his fingers to see that Reddic had just faked his action to scare him. "Just leave me out here, then!" he cried. He was very afraid. This night of all nights had all of the yoshis being too occupied with the Full Moon Celebration and pretty much the only hope he had of anyone looking for him would be Cerule.

Reddic let out a loud scoff. "You're nothing but a cursed, colourless, weak little yoshi! When I become leader I'll have you thrown out of this village!"

Albin cowered in front of the towering Reddic. "Wh-why'd anyone make y-you a leader?" he piped up.

"'Cause I'm the best!" Reddic boasted, thumping his chest once with his fist proudly. "I'm the strongest and I always win! All the adults are super impressed with how I set new records!"

Albin looked away. He knew Reddic was right about that. He was very athletic for his age and his accomplishment had gotten the attention of quite a lot of adults. The problem was that it had fed his ego a lot and had turned him into a jerk.

"But I've been planning ahead for you, Squeaky!" he then spat, grabbing Albin by his arm and forcibly pulling him up to a stand. He then dragged him towards a lone tree. "Before I beat you up, I'll soften you up by throwing some rotten fruit at you! And once I'll be done with you you're probably gonna run away from the village forever in case I wouldn't be made the next leader. It's a win-win for me. And I always win!"

_**oOoOo**_

"Kamek, this's boring!" complained Bowser as he was leaning against the closest wall. He let out a loud, audible yawn to make his point clearer.

The blue robed magikoopa let out a sigh when he briefly looked away from his spell book to his side. In front of him was a large, black cauldron in which an ominous, dark purple liquid bubbled at a slow pace. He adjusted his thick glasses and looked towards the young koopa royal. "With all due respect, this type of sorcery is nothing of the sort that is finished at the drop of a hat. This here is a spell that requires an utmost precision and timing to get done right."

"Now youse talkin' odd again," Bowser spoke up.

Kamek sighed again. He was already starting to feel a surge of disappointment when it turned out that Bowser had not been that invested in the arts of magic as he had originally thought. "These things." He gestured towards his spell book, magic wand and cauldron. "They take time."

Bowser just rolled his eyes. "Well, speed it up!" he snapped back. "It's getting' late. Can'tcha continue tomorrow?"

"Not possible," Kamek replied, going back to read the lines carefully in his spell book. "We only get an opportunity like this once every month. In order for this spell to work out, we want as many yoshis to be hit by it as possible. Missing just a few could lead to dire consequences. And this night is when they are all gathered in the village for their loud, annoying party."

Bowser gave a short, understanding nod. "Uh-huh…. But can'tcha make da spell bigger?" he asked.

"Since this idea was cooked up at such a short notice, we lack the required ingredients to make the spell's radius larger. Furthermore this spell would quickly lose its potency should we decide to hold it off for next month."

"Awright…" Bowser agreed with a long yawn.

"Your evilness, I assure you that I am trying to hurry it up completing the spell. Once I have cast it, you are going directly to bed, It is important you have slept well so you can be alert enough for the morning studies in the morrow." Kamek could see Bowser frown at that. "Now, be patient and I won't be distracted. It's soon ready."

Bowser walked up and peeked into the cauldron. He grimaced at the stench, but was also awed at the same time. "So, whatcha have in mind?" he asked.

Kamek smirked and adjusted his glasses. "Throughout my observations, yoshis are an interesting breed of creatures. Happiness and excitement is what fuels their energy and strength. Sadness and lack of food greatly diminishes their ability to fight, with the former having an astonishing effect on their strength."

"Da point, Kamek?" Bowser said flatly, tapping his foot impatiently.

"I've managed to conjure a spell that will take away their current happiness and energy from them. If my calculations are correct, it will drain their energy and leave them at an almost zombie-like state." He clenched his fist and frowned. "Of course, they have their Super Happy… Tree," he then continued, pausing in between the last words to suppress a gag of disgust at the name of said tree. "…that bears fruits that could easily reverse the effects of the spell."

Bowser let of a disappointed whine and crossed his arms. "Stupid tree…" he muttered.

Kamek then flashed a malevolent grin and chuckled. "Hm, hm, hm. That is where the fun part begins. This spell will not only put the yoshis in a depressed state, it will also drain all the fruits' nutrients. And the second part of the spell will warp the tree away from the village. With no fruits to reverse the effect, they will be permanently stuck in their feeble state."

"Until dey figure out who's dunnit and attack us," Bowser pointed out.

Kamek wagged his finger. "Ah, ah, aaah. You forgot the key point of my plan, your nastiness," he then cackled. "How are they going to figure out we did it and mount an attack if they are all drained of their energy and willpower?"

Bowser's eyes widened at the realization, nodding slowly as an equally nasty, toothy grin widened on his face. "Dat's pretty clever! But what if dey try anyway?"

"A crying, depressed yoshi is significantly weaker than a healthy yoshi. They are surprisingly easy to deal with should they get any ideas. I have seen them in that state before, and it was quite exhilarating!" Kamek explained, his attention unmoved towards the cauldron.

"When was dat?" Bowser asked.

"That's for another time, my prince. The spell is just about finished!" He reached for his wand and chanted a spell spoken in an arcane language. He twirled it before he carefully dipped it into the cauldron. All of the dark purple colour of the bubbling liquid in the cauldron vanished and was transferred to the tip of Kamek's magic wand.

"Cool," Bowser uttered, staring at the magic with awe.

"Hm, hm, hm," Kamek chuckled as he looked at the orb on the tip of his wand. It was glowing a strong, dark ominous purple and left behind a transparent, dangerous looking trail as he moved it. "Let us go to a high point of the castle. You're about to see something delightfully evil and efficient in action, your nastiness."

_**oOoOo**_

"You did what?" Cerule's voice rang out in anger.

"He was making me nervous!" Walder shot back, holding up his hands in defence. "I swear he almost glows white when it's dark."

"You ditched him!" Cerule cried out. "Now we're gonna have to find him and you two better apologize for what you did!"

Gulric was poking his index fingers together. "But we will miss the eating contest."

"Well, too bad!" Cerule shot back, "That wouldn't've been a problem had Albin still been here!"

Both the green and the yellow yoshi looked at each other and let out a sigh of defeat in unison. "Fine," they both said.

The yoshis began to head towards the hut Albin lived at. Gulric and Walder were taking the lead since Cerule wanted to keep an eye on them should they try to sneak off. When they eventually reached the hut Cerule walked ahead of the group.

"Hey, what's with you and him anyway?" Fusia whispered to Cerule. "I mean, not that there's anything wrong with him…"

Cerule looked over to the pink yoshi. "H-he needs a friend," he replied, "I don't think there's anything wrong with his white colour at all."

Fusia rolled her eyes. "Well, it seems you're trying hard to be that friend. Even went so far to purposefully fall over at that limbo. You can go lower than that."

Cerule didn't say anything and looked away. He didn't want to argue with her and risk the possibilities of losing her as a friend. But she was right; he had purposefully fallen over at the limbo to boost Albin's confidence. He wondered if Gulric and Walder were suspecting him of that as well, but they might not have paid too much attention of it.

"Hey, Cerule," Walder spoke up, "we're here." Cerule looked up and saw Albin's hut. He gestured towards him to call for the white yoshi. "Aw man, do I have to?" Walder whined.

"Yes!" Cerule snapped back. "You too, Gulric!" he ordered the yellow yoshi.

"…Fine," he agreed. "Albin! Walder and I are sorry for leaving you behind like that!" he then hollered into the hut.

"Yeah," the green yoshi chimed in, "it's totally nothing to do with your colour or anything!"

Cerule clenched his fists when he heard Walder's poor choice of words, but he also got worried there was no reply.

Gulric approached the entrance and looked inside. "He's not inside!" he then told the rest.

"Oh, no…" Cerule uttered worriedly. "What if he ran away?"

"I doubt it. He got the both of you grounded so he wouldn't do something like that," Fusia pointed out, much to Cerule's annoyance. "Maybe he's with his parents?"

Cerule crossed his arms. "He better be, or all of us are gonna be in real trouble otherwise."

"Hey, I don't wanna be dragged into what those two did!" Fusia complained, pointing towards Gulric and Walder.

"Oh, you are NOT going to blame us for everything!" Walder protested as he stomped up to the pink yoshi. "You're the one who dragged Cerule away!"

Fusia shrank back a little. "I wasn't the one who left him!"

"Guys," Cerule spoke up, but was ignored.

"I am with Walder," Gulric added. "You are the one who started the chains of events that led to this."

"But YOU left HIM!" Fusia yelled back. "I'm gonna get my brother if you don't stop being mean to me!"

"Guys!" Cerule shouted at them, finally getting their attention. "What if he ran into Reddic?"

There was a brief silence as they all looked at Cerule. Then, Walder spoke up.

"That shouldn't be possible. I know he's hanging out with Fiola and that they would be at a quieter place."

"And the only place that would be remotely quiet today wouldn't even be in the way between where we left Albin and his hut," Gulric added, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Cerule crossed his arms. "Well, we should go and check anyway just to be safe," he suggested.

"Well, I heard where he was going to be, but he told me he didn't want to be disturbed," Fusia spoke up.

"Hey, Cerule," Walder then told him, "should we get Blouise in case Reddic's gonna give us trouble?"

Cerule shook his head quickly. "No, no! My sis doesn't like me hanging out with Albin, you know that!"

"Hm, I guess that's one thing we have in common, Cerule," Fusia then said, "Both of our older siblings are giving us a hard time."

Cerule half smiled at her. "Heh, yeah. I know Reddic's not too fond of me for being buddies with Albin."

"And me," Fusia said quietly enough to go unheard.

The four yoshis then proceeded to head towards where Reddic and Fiola would be at according to Fusia. They tried not to be too hasty in fear of being instantly spotted by Reddic; they knew he was ill-tempered and wouldn't like if all of them were spying on him. But fortunately for them, they spotted Fiola by herself, laughing loudly and uncontrollably. They all looked around to see if Reddic was nearby, but couldn't spot him.

Gulric approached the purple yoshi first. "Excuse me, did you perchance-"

"Oh I'm sorry," Fiola interrupted him in between her howls of laughter. She held up her hand to gesture Gulric to be quiet. "You shoulda seen it! Sweet Reddic and I were about to share a big watermelon and all of a sudden this egg comes right outta nowhere and… pfft." She burst out in another uncontrollable laughter. Once she regained her breath, she wiped her tears away and continued. "And it hit Reddic in the back of his head and knocked his face right into the melon!"

The four other yoshis stood there and blinked. Cerule chuckled a little when he imagined the scenario, and both Gulric and Walder cringed a bit when Fiola said Reddic was 'sweet'.

"Well, that sounds funny and all," Fusia said, "But you know where Reddic is now?"

Fiola still giggled as she wept away a few more tears. "He said something about taking care of business with a friend, but he seemed pretty angry."

Cerule gulped. "W-was that friend a white yoshi?"

"I dunno, I was laughing too hard to pay any attention," Fiola replied, "though he said he'd be back soon."

Cerule's eyes widened and he looked at the others. "Guys, this is bad! I think Albin might've done something really stupid!"

"But outside the walls?" Walder complained. "The adults will get really mad if they found out if we snuck outside this late."

"I agree," said Gulric, "although everyone might be too distracted by the festivities we probably could sneak out unnoticed. I believe Reddic thought that as well."

"Well, what are we waiting for, we gotta hurry!" Cerule burst out before he took off running. The other three yoshis followed suit, leaving Fiola behind.

The purple yoshi looked at them and shrugged; it wasn't any of her business.

_**oOoOo**_

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, REDDIC!?" Cerule screamed at the top of his lungs when he spotted both the red yoshi and Albin. He saw the white yoshi tied up and hanging from a tree branch, covered in what looked like old, rotten fruit.

Reddic turned around and stared Cerule down. "Oh look, Squeaky, your stupid little friend Dummy's here," he growled. "What do you think it looks like I'm doing?"

Cerule flinched slightly at Reddic's aggressive tone. He quickly looked over his shoulder to see that the other three weren't with him. He gulped; he had ran too fast again and left them behind. He really hoped they hadn't ditched him too. He looked past Reddic to check on Albin. He could see that he had given up on struggling and was crying.

"Y-you've gone too far this time, you jerk!" Cerule managed to utter.

"And what are you gonna do about it, Dummy?" Reddic challenged as he began to stomp towards Cerule. "It's time to teach you why it's bad to hang out with a colourless freak!" he added as he cracked his knuckles with an anticipating smirk.

Cerule gulped when the red yoshi approached him, but he tried to stand his ground. But when he saw Reddic's smirk quickly fade, he quickly looked over his shoulder to see that Walder, Gulric and Fusia had finally caught up with him. He relaxed a little bit, but was still annoyed of how far they had fallen behind.

"You run way too fast, Cerule!" Gulric complained as he was catching his breath.

Reddic frowned and crossed his arms. "Oh, if it isn't Nerdy and Number Two," he scoffed, addressing the yellow and green yoshi respectively.

"Can it, Reddic!" Walder spat back. "What've you done to Albin this time?" Reddic responded by pointing his thumb over his shoulder, and when Walder could see the tied up white yoshi hanging from the tree, he clenched his fists.

"You overdid it this time," Gulric uttered as he walked up next to Walder. But Reddic didn't pay much attention to him; he looked past the two and his eyes widened when he spotted Fusia.

"Sis, what are you doing here?" he exclaimed. His eyes darted over towards Cerule who flinched under his piercing stare. Quickly putting two and two together, Reddic uncrossed his arms. "Oh, Dummy I oughta kick your butt right now!" he growled, "You're _still_ hanging out with Fusia?"

"Calm down, Reddic!" Fusia piped up, getting in between Reddic and Cerule. "What's it to you anyway?"

Reddic snarled as he looked down on Fusia. He was slightly taller than the other young yoshis. "Because he keeps hanging out with that freak of a yoshi!" he yelled, pointing at Albin. "So how about you-" He picked up the pink yoshi and set her down on the other side. –"get out of the way like this so I can give Dummy a beating!"

Cerule felt as if he was paralyzed when he heard Reddic's threatening words. He quickly looked to his sides to see if Walder and Gulric were close, but those two had snuck around to get to help out Albin while Reddic was focused on Cerule. He gulped and backed away one step away from the red yoshi.

"Y-you wouldn't!" he piped up, "you'll get in trouble!" But Reddic responded by punching his fist into his palm as he started approaching.

"All the adults are back at the village, so you got no one to run to now!"

"Stop it, Reddic!" Fusia yelled, but he only responded by shoving her away.

Without warning, Reddic charged towards Cerule. Cerule let out a frightened yelp and covered his eyes. Before he knew it, he was rammed by Reddic's shoulder and tossed to the ground by the sheer force. He then felt Reddic's hand wrap around his neck as he was then firmly hoisted up. Cerule opened his eyes to see the red yoshi glaring at him while he held his free fist pulled back ready to punch him.

"You better stop that right now!" a new voice yelled out. Cerule couldn't turn his head, but he didn't need to; he recognized that voice.

Reddic lowered his fist and dropped the light blue yoshi to the ground. "Well of course the big sis comes to Dummy's rescue as usual," he scoffed.

Cerule crawled away from Reddic before rubbing his neck. Now things had just taken a turn for the worse now that Blouise was here. He knew that once she was done facing down Reddic he would be at the receiving end of her anger. "How'd you find us here?" he piped up.

"I knew something was up when I couldn't find you. After I found Fiola laughing her butt off about something, I asked her and then pieced two and two together," she explained to Cerule, not taking her eye off Reddic. "As for you, Reddic, what's your deal messing with my little brother?"

"He's got trouble listening to what I tell him not to do!" Reddic shot back.

Blouise put her hand on her hip and rolled her eyes. "Well I can't blame you for that, but unlike everyone else, you don't scare me. You lay a hand on Cerule and you'll have to answer to me" She wasn't wrong about that. Out of all of them, Blouise was the only one who dared to stand up against Reddic when he was angry. That, and she was not afraid to tell on the adults whenever something was up.

The red yoshi clenched his fists and growled. "Whatever! Dummy's a wimp anyway! He just got in the way, that's all!"

"Got in the way of what?" she flatly replied.

"I was just teaching that white loser a lesson, that's all!" He looked over to where he had tied up Albin and saw that Gulric and Walder had just finished untying him off his bonds. "HEY!" he roared. "What two DOING?"

Blouise rolled her eyes. "Oh so you were going after that colourless troublemaker again," she said, looking at how Albin flailed with his arms to distance himself from Walder and Gulric.

"Leave me alone!" Albin cried at the two. "I should never have gone outside at all!"

"He's not a troublemaker, sis," Cerule objected.

Blouise stepped forward and grabbed Cerule's arm firmly. "That's enough! We're going back before the adults realize we're gone and get grounded for even _longer_ than we already are!" she scolded him before looking towards the green and the yellow yoshi. "Same goes for you two!"

Walder and Gulric both looked back at Albin to see him having sat down on a small hill with his back turned towards them. "Fine," Walder then said, "He probably wants to be left alone anyways."

Reddic crossed his arms and smirked as he watched Albin sulk. "I guess he learned his lesson."

A bright, colourful light and explosion got every yoshi's attention and all of them but Albin looked over to the source of the noise. All of them let out collective groans of disappointment when they saw it was the Full Moon Celebration fireworks that had been fired off.

"Aw man, they started the fireworks and we're out here!" Walder complained.

"And what's worse is that this is the climax of the celebration! The grownups will know we're not around for sure!" Gulric added.

"Well, the view's pretty alright from here," Cerule pointed out only to have the remaining five yoshi's turn to him. "What?"

"Thanks to the colourless wimp over there, we now missed the high point of the Full Moon Celebration!" Reddic said.

Blouise let out a loud, whiny groan. "And now we're gonna miss out on the heart fruits! Nice going, Albin!"

"Stop blaming Albin!" Cerule piped up. He looked back to see the white yoshi still sitting on the hill with his back turned to them, staring up at the full moon. He wanted to go up to him but he knew that Blouise would probably yank him back.

"Look, it kinda is his fault," Walder pointed out, "He got Reddic all riled up and ended up."

Yeah!" Blouise agreed, "Had he had any common sense he would've just gone home! But I guess with the lack of colour comes lack of common sense!" She then began to drag Cerule with her as she began stomping back to the village.

Reddic grinned slightly before looking at Fusia. "Come on, sis, we're going home too," he told her. Fusia pouted in protest, but followed along anyway. "Hey! Number Two and Nerdy!" he then hollered at Walder and Gulric respectively, "you gonna stick around with that loser?"

"No, no," Walder quickly said with a bit of irritation in his voice. He could see Gulric mouthing something to himself as he followed.

"What about Albin?" Cerule piped up as Blouise was dragging him with her.

Reddic scoffed. "What about him? Let him cry and stare at the moon. It's all he ever does!" He then guffawed loudly and condescendingly.

Cerule frowned and wished he could get at Reddic, but he knew the red yoshi would beat him up so bad if he tried. He looked towards the village and sighed. It was a bit of a bummer they had all missed the epic finale of the party. And while he could hear the happy noises from the village he felt his heart sink; it didn't feel quite right knowing that Albin was feeling really miserable.

And then, without warning, a large beam descended into the centre of the village at a blinding velocity. Upon impact, the entire village was engulfed in a humongous, purple orb which emitted a sound that could be described as dark, crackling electricity and wavy, trembling noises. Screams of panic and fear could be heard from the village as its colour seemed to drain into a drab, lifeless brown.

The size of the horrifying sphere then quickly shrunk before disappearing altogether. And once it was fully gone there was only a cold, eerie silence in the air.

The six yoshis stood there, eyes wide of what they had just witnessed. Cerule and Fusia were both slightly hugging their older siblings, and the other four just stood there with their mouth agape in shock, not saying a single word.

"Tha… tha… that didn't look right!" Walder was the first one to speak, his voice stammering with fear as he looked at the silent village.

"Q-quiet… wh-why is it so quiet?" Fusia whispered, shivering as she held onto Reddic who looked just as stunned as everyone else.

Cerule didn't say anything. The words were stuck in his throat as he stared at the village. It took a lot of willpower for him to turn away from the village and look at Albin to see how he had reacted. "A-Albin?" he weakly said when he saw the white yoshi standing up, still staring at the full moon.

"Our p-parents… a-are they…?" Blouise's voice trailed off.

"Oh no… Fiola!" Reddic the burst out before he started to run towards the village.

"Wait, Reddic!" Gulric shouted, "It could be dangerous!"

"I DON'T CARE!" Reddic screamed back.

The rest of the yoshis ran after Reddic, fearing what could've happened to their parents. Cerule, however hesitated at first. He still looked at Albin who seemed to be too focused on the moon. Was he afraid of looking at the village? Or did he not care…? Were the stories… true? Cerule wasn't sure if he dared to walk up to him and see if he was okay, but when he managed to take one step towards him he could hear Blouise yelling after him.

"Cerule! We gotta go back! Move it!" Cerule snapped out of his thoughts and instinctively ran after his older sister.


	4. Page 0: Party's Over

_**Page 0: Party's Over**_

It was difficult for Kamek to hold back his absolute excitement after having witnessed his spell be a complete success. Such behaviour in front of the future koopa king would be unbecoming of his position. But he could afford to wickedly grin with satisfaction when he looked down at the results of his work. The previously loud, obnoxious and sickeningly colourful festivals that had plagued him and Bowser for so long had now been replaced by a drab, almost invisible spot on the opposing island. But the best part of it all was one simple thing.

The silence.

Never before had Kamek cherished the welcoming embrace of absolute silence the very moment the spell had finished. The only sound he could hear was the howling of the winds and the gentle waves hitting the edge of their own island,

"Wow, dat was so cool," Bowser said quietly in awe, breaking the silence.

Kamek looked over to him to see that he was staring towards the yoshi village with wide open eyes. "Indeed, my lord," he then replied. "That is the power of magic when used correctly." He adjusted his glasses and then glanced towards their own castle. Not only had he dealt a heave blow to the yoshis spirits, he had also managed to successful uproot and steal their so called 'Super Happy Tree'.

That tree had been something that had piqued his interest from the moment he had heard of it. Despite the sickening idea of its name and abilities to bring happiness, the fact that it _did_ contain magical properties made him curious if it was possible to extract the source of its magic and possibly enhance his own. With no yoshi to interfere or call for help he would have ample amounts of time to conduct research on the tree.

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully with anticipation. It would be quite the treat to see what results he'd get from studying that tree. He could reverse its properties to be gainful to their own armies, or infuse them with a magic toxin for more… underhanded warfare. And if it would turn out to be impossible to extract any of the magical properties, he could just _destroy_ it. After all, part of the spell had been to warp the tree to the location of their castle and seal it away.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud yawn from Bowser. He knew immediately that it was not a yawn of boredom, but out of tiredness. It was very late and past the prince's bedtime. He was feeling rather tired himself having used most of his energy to work on the spell.

"Well, now is the time for you to have your royal sleep, my lord," he told Bowser as he gestured towards the doorway.

Bowser rubbed his tired eyes. "But I wanna see the dumb dino-donkeys be mis'rable," he complained.

Kamek wagged his finger. "That will have to wait for tomorrow. We are under no stress to further delve into this successful experiment. Those yoshis have nowhere to go, and no way to signal for help. Time is on our side." He stretched out his arms. "As for now, let us both enjoy a peaceful night's sleep without those parties ever disturbing us again."

Bowser crossed his arms and pouted in protest. He grumbled something inaudible.

"How about we cancel tomorrow's studies so you can sleep in?" Kamek suggested. It was rare for him to make offers like these, but he was very elated from his success. Those yoshis had been a thorn in his side for their strength and refusal to submit to the Koopa empire and now he had subdued them successfully! Of course more yoshi tribes existed, but those were far, far away and not something to worry about for now.

Bowser was grinning happily upon knowing he wouldn't have to do any boring studies as they walked in. Kamek was doing his best to hide his almost giddy excitement of tomorrow's events. He would have the time of his life gloating to those stupid miserable yoshis.

_**oOoOo**_

The dark, drab and quiet village was incredibly alien to the seven young yoshis. The colourful festival decorations that previously lit up the village were now torn and ruined, devoid of any colour and lustre. All of the yoshis that had been inside the radius of that ominous and spherical explosion had also been drained of colour and energy. Most of them were lying down on the ground, staring emptily at the sky, and some of them were just standing around, slumped over due to the lack of energy.

"Mommy?" Fusia's voice piped up, breaking the eerie silence that lingered in the village. "Mommy, where are you?" she cried out a little louder.

Reddic pulled her closer to him. "They all look different," he pointed out. "Stay close. I don't want it to happen to you." Fusia sniffled and hugged her older brother.

"Hello? Anyone okay here?" Walder hollered, hoping to get a response.

"I have never seen yoshis have such… and empty look," Gulric mused, fidgeting nervously as he looked at the adult yoshis lying about in their fatigued state.

"Please let this be a nightmare, please let this be a nightmare," Cerule kept repeating to himself over and over.

Blouise shook her younger brother slightly to get him to snap out of it. "You're as awake as the rest of us. Stop doing that and try help see if we can find someone to talk to!"

Of the seven, Albin was still keeping a slight distance from the rest of them. He was already crying tears of fright when he was looking closely to the yoshis affected by the blast. He squatted down in front of an adult yoshi that was staring into the distance and waved his hand in front of his eyes. The lack of response from the adult yoshi made Albin back away from him.

"Fiola!" Reddic then cried out, recognizing the female purple yoshi that was sitting at the ground, staring absentmindedly at the ground. He dashed up to her and lifted her head up so that she could look at him. "It's me, Reddic, come on, look at me," he spoke to her.

"It's no use, they're all just… down or something," Walder told him.

"SHADDUP!" Reddic screamed back at the green yoshi before looking back at the dark purple yoshi. "Come on, say something!" He shook her lightly, but was just met with the same silence and empty stare as every other adult yoshi had. Reddic's grip on Fiola slowly loosened until she slumped down into a sitting position again, looking down at the darkly discoloured grass.

He slowly stood up and looked down at her with disbelief. He then quickly turned around a pointed an accusing finger at Albin. "YOU!" he yelled, causing the other six yoshis to jump with fright. "You did this!" He began to stomp towards the white yoshi.

"Wha-what?" Albin stammered as he backed away. "I d-did what?"

"Reddic calm down!" Gulric exclaimed, trying to get in between them while Walder and Blouise ran up to try and restrain the red yoshi.

"Lemme go! That cursed colourless yoshi is behind this!" Reddic growled as he pushed both Walder and Blouise away from him.

"Albin's… certainly different from us but I doubt he possesses magical capabilities. You're being too hasty in your judgement!" Gulric explained to Reddic.

Cerule crossed his arms and pouted, not liking the way Gulric worded things about Albin, but given the circumstances, now was not the time to voice complaints about that.

"Okay, smarty-shoes, if you're so aspolutely certain it isn't little Squeaky over there behind this, what is?" Reddic then demanded.

Gulric flinched a little under the red yoshi's loud tone. "Well, firstly it's 'absolutely', and second-"

"I didn't ask you to correct me!" Reddic quickly spat back, raising a fist.

"Look, Reddic, now's really not the time to be angry," Walder said. "We gotta try and keep it together and figure out a solution."

Fusia let out a noise to get attention from the other yoshis. "I, uh… I have a suggestion," she piped up, getting all of them to look at her. "All of them adults seem down, right? M-maybe some fruit will get their spirits up?"

"Good idea," Blouise quickly acknowledged, "except that all the fruit around has gone mouldy and would taste so bad even we would feel bad from it." Fusia's shoulders slumped upon hearing that.

"But we have the Super Happy Tree!" Cerule then exclaimed with an ecstatic jump. "A heart fruit would totally bring the grownups back to their senses, right?" He forced the best smile he could. After all, nothing could cure a yoshi's depression better than a heart fruit.

Gulric snapped his fingers and pointed at Cerule, winking at him as he smirked. "Now that's a good suggestion! How silly we didn't think of that sooner!"

"Or the adults!" Walder added as they all headed to the part of the village where the Super Happy Tree was located.

Cerule, excited about the idea, decided to speed ahead of the group to reach the tree first. He heard Blouise yell at him not to do that, but he was too excited to listen to her. Heck, he wanted to have a heart fruit for himself and Albin so they could cheer themselves up. He knew Albin would certainly need it after Reddic had accused him like that, but at the same time Cerule had his slight doubts about him.

He shrugged off the thoughts and focused on keeping his fast pace as he raced through the village. He was pretty quick on his feet, so the rest of the yoshis were probably lagging behind. But he wanted to be the first one to pick a heart fruit; young yoshis like him were prohibited from picking them without permission. They used to say that it wouldn't be too healthy if very young yoshis had too much heart fruits, but now that it was just the seven of them there were no adults to tell him what to do.

When he arrived at the Super Happy Tree spot of the village his excitement vanished at an instant. The Super Happy Tree was gone. There were no signs of it anywhere. All Cerule could see was the small empty hillock covered in nothing but dark, drab grass.

He turned around when he saw the rest of the young yoshis catch up to him. "G-Guys! The tree! It's… gone!" he choked, doing his best to hold back his tears.

"WHAT?" almost all of the yoshis yelled out in response before their eyes simultaneously widened at the sight. They all formed a circle around the spot where the Super Happy Tree once proudly stood.

"How can a tree just disappear?" Walder wondered out loud as he stared down at the ground. He heard Fusia sniffle loudly along with Blouise.

"Wh-what are we –hic- going t-to d-do?" the pink yoshi hiccupped in between her words.

"Wi-without those fruits, h-how can we cheer up our folks?" Blouise added, wiping some of her tears. "I-it's over! This is the end! We're doomed!"

"The tree is the source of many good fruits, yes, but for it to be the source of every yoshis' spirits as well?" Gulric mused. He was crying as well, but he was still able to keep his voice under control as he wept a tear with the back of his hand.

"Bu-bu-but if tha-that is so why're we still colourful?" Albin piped up, looking as devastated as the rest. "W-we're not like… like the grownups!"

"Not yet," Walder said, clenching his fist slightly. He wasn't crying just yet. "We gotta stay strong, you guys. If we keep crying, we might become like the rest of the yoshis."

Reddic was also not crying. He was just staring angrily at the empty spot, clenching his fists along with his teeth. "SQUEAKY!" he then shouted loudly, causing Albin to jump with fright. "DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT COLOUR!" he screamed as he pointed at him.

"Reddic, now's not the time," Walder spoke up, clearly annoyed with the red yoshi. He flinched when Reddic spun around to glare at him with his wide open angry eyes but did his best to stand up to him. "Whether you like it or not, we all need to stick together for now."

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" Reddic yelled back. "There is aspolutely NO way I'm going to go along with that squeaky wimp-freak!"

Gulric stepped up next to Walder. "Reddic, you're being stupid. You can't possibly think Albin is behind this."

"He brings bad luck!" Reddic spat, crossing his arms. Gulric just sighed and rolled his eyes.

Cerule wiped some of his tears and walked up to Albin. "Hey, Albin," he spoke up, "wh-when that light hit the village, wh-what were you looking at while the rest of us ran back?" he then asked him.

Albin looked at him, and then looked away. "I saw it too," he replied, "the light-"

"Oh can it!" Blouise burst out at him, "you were looking at the moon as usual!" She then grabbed Cerule by his arm and yanked him away from Albin. "And you stay away from him once and for all before he curses you too!"

Albin flinched under Blouise's outburst. "Bu-but I didn-"

"Guys, GUYS!" Walder then yelled out, getting their attention. "We shouldn't fight like this!"

"Yeah," Fusia piped up. "What if we're being affected by the curse by being in the village?"

"Good point," Gulric acknowledged." According to my theory, we may have not been hit by the light, but the effects could linger about enough for us to become as depressed as the adults."

Reddic clenched his fist and looked down at the ground. He was still clenching his teeth visibly as his fist trembled. "So what're you suggesting, Nerdy?"

"It's late and we're all tired and shocked of what's happened," Gulric then said, "We should work on finding a place outside the village to tuck in for the night."

"But what if someone attacks us while we're sleeping?" Blouise asked.

"Then I'LL beat them up!" Reddic boasted, punching his fist into his palm with determination. "If anyone's gonna save this village, it's gonna be me! _I'm_ gonna be the hero of the yoshis!"

Walder smirked ever so slightly. "Oh, you already got a plan, Reddic?"

"Well, uh, I haven't really thought of what yet, but…"

Gulric rolled his eyes. "You're not really good at thinking…"

"Oh yeah?" Reddic snapped back, "But I'm the best at anything that matters! Ask Number Two!" He pointed at Walder, "I beat him in everything! I'm the best! Always have been, and always_ will _be! You need a yoshi like me to pull you through! Unlike that white wimpy wuss over there!"

"You have an obsession with Albin," Gulric pointed out. "If you got a pebble in your shoe you'd probably blame him for that too."

"HAH!" Reddic scoffed, "I'd like to see your stupid face when it turns out I'm right about that colourless loser!"

Cerule wanted to comfort Albin, but Blouise's grip on his arm was firm. If he'd try to walk to him again he'd get yelled at again. He could see how Albin sat down and curled up, sobbing to himself.

"Reddic, for now we're all going to have to stick together," Walder then told him, earning a snarl from the red yoshi. "It's the right thing to do."

"Right," Gulric agreed. "We'll find a place secure enough for us to sleep for the night, and then we'll see if we can find some fresh fruit to feed the grownups to see I they can recover enough to help us out."

Blouise nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

Fusia fidgeted a little. "I-I dun wanna sleep outside the village."

"I'll protect you if something threatens you," Reddic assured her with.

With that the seven yoshis all solemnly made their way out of the village to find a spot to sleep. Despite the fact that Gulric and Walder had stood up for Albin, the six yoshis still kept him at a distance most of the time as they walked, not wanting to converse with him at all.


	5. Page 1-1: Treasure Hunt

**Author's Note: **I'm just going to say I REALLY dislike the chapter tab to the right. It messes up the centre title! What gives? In a preview it looks perfect!

Either way, sometimes I wonder if adding musical cues would be a good idea. Although having to rely on music to act in place of my writing might not give the best impression. I mean, let's be honest, Yoshi's Story has some nice music.

_**Page 1-1: Treasure Hunt**_

"Albin, wake up already!"

The white yoshi's eyes fluttered open to see Cerule looking down at him with a smile. He sat up and stretched his arms. He felt a little stiff after having slept outside in the open. He looked up to see it was a nice morning with no clouds in sight. He smiled at first, but it quickly faded when he remembered that he wasn't in the village.

"Morning, Cerule," Albin replied. "I see you're up early as usual."

Cerule did a short hop of acknowledgement. "Yep, but you're a sleepyhead!" he exclaimed, his face beaming. When he saw Albin stand up his wide smile quickly faded. "Wait, don't look at the-"

But it was too late. Albin was already intent on checking out the village to see if yesterday had just been one terrible nightmare. There was still the ominous dark aura looming over the village, casting an eternal shadow over it. Albin took a step backwards away from it, feeling a cold shiver down his spine. He didn't want to believe it. He wanted the nightmare to have stayed just a nightmare, not follow him when he was awake.

"It's… I don't…" he trailed off, sinking down to a sitting position.

Cerule put his hand on Albin's shoulder. "We're trying to figure out what happened. I didn't wanna believe it myself."

"It's still so quiet," the white yoshi pointed out. "I thought they'd get better overnight or something."

"We all did, Albin."

Albin looked around to see if the others were nearby; he was a little worried Reddic or Blouise would give him a hard time again. "Where are-"

"They're collecting fruit in the area. I…" Cerule hesitated briefly, "snuck away saying I'd keep watch over the village."

Albin looked down and sighed. "Oh, so they ditched me."

"Well, you're quite the heavy sleeper!" Cerule playfully said back.

Albin looked up to see Cerule's smile. He had known the light blue yoshi long enough to see that he was heavily forcing his smile. But nevertheless, he was trying and Albin did his best to respect that and forced a smile back at him.

"I guess," he said as he scratched the back of his neck before his forced smile faded. "But I still remember what Reddic and Blouise said about me. Made me really feel bad."

Cerule waved his hand in a dismissing manner. "Don't listen to that! They're stupid to even think that! Don't let them get to you."

Albin could tell Cerule was spitting out his words really quick, as if to trying to mask that he had slight doubts about Albin. But Albin knew he couldn't really blame him. All of this had happened so suddenly and with not a single adult yoshi to turn to, what could they do? He curled into a foetal position and wished he could go to his parents for advice, but he had already seen what had happened to them.

"Come on, Albin, try to cheer up a little!" Cerule then exclaimed, grabbing Albin's arm and tried to force him to stand up. "Alright, upsy daisy!" The last words were a little strained as he pulled the white yoshi to a stand. Seeing Albin still having a sad expression, Cerule crossed his arms. "Albin, I know things are tough right now, but no matter how tough things are, a yoshi still smiles. You gotta try harder than that!"

Albin looked at the light blue yoshi and stretched his arms. He took a deep breath and tried to give a wide smile. "Hhrrrnngghh!" he groaned as he had quite possibly the most forced smile he could muster.

Cerule laughed nervously. "Okay, now. Let's not overdo it, Albin. Just don't get too frowny, alright?" Albin shrugged, to which Cerule playfully stomped his foot on the ground. "Being a downer can spread. Try being an upper." He snapped his fingers after he came up with an idea. "We could try to come up with a little dance! You know, dancing, prancing might be the best chance…uh… ing?"

Albin let out a short laugh at Cerule's messed up rhyme. "I don't think this might be the right time for dancing."

"I think it is," Cerule said back. "I think we need to do as much as we can to find a way to bring every yoshi back to their spirits. Fruit's a good idea at first, though. Nothing like a good, sweet snack to brighten a day!" He rubbed his tummy and had a big smile on his face.

This reminded Albin of the other young yoshis. "So, where exactly are the others looking for fruit? You know the adults told us about the dangers outside the village."

Cerule nodded, his smile going away. "Yeah, they say there can be a lot of meanies the further away from the village you get. I really hope they don't know what happened to our village. Well, the shy guys usually shy away from us. They are usually pretty scared of us."

Albin nodded in acknowledgement. From what he knew, he had been around some areas with his parents when they guided him the last moon cycle. He was told that only the grassy green areas were safe to be around even for adults, and the caverns were considered super dangerous to go to. There were stories of scary dragons and monsters residing over there. One place he always wanted to go to was the large tower that wasn't too far from the village. He had been there once with his parents when it was really dark and the view was just amazing. Maybe he could get a better understanding where that strange light came from if he went up there to check?

"Hello? Cerule to Albin?" Cerule snapped Albin out of his thoughts. "You zoned out a li'l bit there. I told you they were searching that area over there for possible fruit. I bet they're having a blast! Must be like a treasure hunt for them, but with fruits!" Cerule tilted his head when he saw that Albin was looking at something again. "Albin!"

Albin quickly turned towards Cerule. "Oh, sorry. I just feel a little out of it…"

"Yeah, I guess you're still stunned about this whole thing," Cerule then told him. "Come on, don't worry. This will work out, trust me. Everything will be fine."

_**oOoOo**_

"Aw yeah, take that, wuss guys!" Reddic cried out as a group of shy guys ran away in fear. "Howya like that, Number Two? Three of them down with just _one_ egg!" he boasted as he held up one finger towards Walder to emphasize his point.

The green yoshi rolled his eyes, trying his best not to let the red yoshi bother him. "Yeah, whatever, cool. You can egg shy guys, big whoop."

"Whazzat I'm hearing? Number Two is jealous of my number one skills again?" He laughed loudly before looking for more shy guys to throw eggs at.

"Reddic, we're not out here to pick fights," Gulric spoke up with a hint of exasperation in his voice. "We're getting fruits for our folks, remember?" He, Walder and Blouise were all dragging a makeshift mat put together with sticks and leaves which they had put the gathered fruits on.

"And I'm taking out them spy guys!" Reddic proudly replied, thumbing his chest with a grin.

"Which is why most of them are running away," Blouise pointed out, earning a giggle from Fusia.

Reddic clenched his fists. "Well, if the rest of you stopped being lazy we could just eat'em!"

"It's not like they pose much of a threat to begin with," Fusia said. When Reddic glared at her she squeaked and quickly added: "Well some were carrying fruits so I guess that's okay."

"Guys, we gotta work as a team," the green yoshi loudly spoke up, trying to get all of the yoshis' attention. "The more fruit we can gather the bigger hope we have to get some of our folks to get to their senses, right?"

The yellow yoshi nodded. "According to my theory, fruits should do the trick."

"I wonder why so much of the fruit's laying around," Fusia mused, "we usually pick fruits from bushes and trees."

"I bet the colourless wimp's behind it!" Reddic spat.

"Oh, puh-lease!" Blouise scoffed. "Give it a rest already!"

"He's cursed," Reddic persisted, clenching his fists, "I can't believe you're all siding with that little twerp!"

"And I cannot believe all of us have to stick with you," Gulric muttered under his breath, but it was loud enough for Reddic to hear.

"WHAT WAS THAT, NERDY?" Reddic started to stomp towards Gulric. Before Gulric could react, Reddic had grabbed him by his neck and glared down at him. "You oughta be happy I'm around. _Someone's_ gonna have to be the hero in the end. None of ya runs as fast as I, none of ya jumps as high as I, none of ya flutter jumps as great as I and I am the strongest! The best!"

"Reddic, please," Fusia piped up, "can you, can you calm down? You're being a bit of a jerk now for no reason."

"Yeah," Walder agreed, "let go of Gulric."

Reddic turned his head towards Walder and Fusia and snorted. He then shoved the yellow yoshi away from him. "Whatever…" he muttered as Gulric got to his feet.

"Look, how about you show off less and actually help gathering fruits?" Walder then suggested. Reddic just rolled his eyes. "Come on, we all want this to be over with!"

"And if you're going to grumble all about that stupid white yoshi, just stop," Blouise told him, "we did leave Cerule behind to keep an eye on him and the village should he try something."

"He better not trick Cerule into doing anything he shouldn't," Fusia said.

"We haven't confirmed that Albin's behind this mess. It just sounds so farfetched," Gulric pointed out. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "But Fusia made a good point as to why a lot of fruit is just laying around like this. It's too much and too diverse to be windfall."

Walder patted Gulric's back playfully. "Well, it makes the job of fruit collecting easier for us! No need to worry about that!"

"Which is why I'm focusin' on the bad guys," Reddic added, scanning the area. "I mean, I could be the best fruit collector if I wanted to, but there's not much skill in that!"

The other yoshis just shook their heads and decided to ignore Reddic for the time being.

_**oOoOoOo**_

Meanwhile at the dark castle, Kamek was gleefully humming as he floated down the corridors, twirling his magic wand in the same rhythm as his humming tune. He savoured the fruition of yesterday's labour of having had a very good night's sleep. Normally, nights of full moon were something he dreaded ever since he had come to this blasted island, what with those repulsive yoshis having their loud, obnoxious parties. But the instant silence after the spell was so pleasant to his mind that both Bowser and he had slept in by at least an hour.

Having kept true to his promise to cancel the young prince's studies for today, he decided to make good use of the additional spare time to schedule research time for the Super Happy Tree, plan for future annexation of the complete island now that those pathetic yoshis were out of commission, and finally the one thing he looked forward to the most. He flashed a menacing smile at the thought of paying the now desolate, quiet village to gloat in those drab, weak and hopeless yoshis' faces. To taunt the ones who foiled his plans years ago. Perhaps he could even secure them deep within the castle basements to torment them further as punishment for defying the Koopa Empire in the first place. He couldn't help but chuckle at the thought.

He entered his private library and closed the door behind him. He walked up to his bookshelf and ran his clawed finger through the books until he found a rather thin one that was the compiled map of the island. He put it on his desk and opened it up to give himself a quick refresher on how exactly the islands different areas were. Once he had successfully annexed the island into the Koopa Empire there were many plans for it. Turning it into a secondary base of operations in the future years was something to consider, but turning it into a resort for veterans loyal to the crown was also an alternative.

While he could use the common shy guys to secure the various areas, there were some places that seemed a little bit too unruly. He had received a few reports of shy guy patrols no longer responding when exploring the lava caverns that were not too far away from the village. Shy guys were incredibly expendable, sure, but they were most likely clumsy when it came to the lava. There were also some rumours about some other monsters living there, but that may just be foolish hearsay from those idiotic yoshis that some shy guys may or may not have overheard. Perhaps he could focus on the mountain areas and the jungle at first and then send a letter of request for some more competent muscle.

Noting the following down on a checklist, Kamek then shut the map book close and swiftly put it back into the bookshelf. He walked over to a cupboard that was at the other side of the room and raised his magic wand, casting an unlocking spell on the enchanted lock. As the light purple haze enveloped the magic padlock there was a satisfying click before it fell down. He opened it up and brought out his old crystal ball and the small pillow for it to rest on.

As much as he'd want to visit the village personally, he couldn't leave Prince Bowser unattended for too long. Despite being a day off for the future king, there was no telling if he would come up with some form of annoying mischief. Perhaps he should divide some time off to teach the young prince some proper manners.

He placed the small pillow stand on the desk and then gently placed the crystal ball on top of it. He sat down on his chair and adjusted his glasses before focusing deeply on the clear crystal ball. He then started chanting some rather simple sounding, yet arcane incantations as he waved his clawed hands around the crystal. The crystal was enveloped in dark blue mist as the crystal quickly darkened into a deep purple shade before it started to slowly display a live image for Kamek to observe.

He grinned widely as he started cackling maliciously at what he saw. The sight of the stricken village was a sight for sore eyes. The mere sight of all the discoloured yoshis lying about uselessly filled him with such satisfaction and accomplishment. As he moved the image, he saw more dull coloured yoshis looking too fatigued to even move. He was slightly disappointed he couldn't go there in person right away. Perhaps when it was the prince's royal naptime there'd be enough time.

As he scanned the village to admire more of his handiwork, he was at the same time very surprised on how well the spell had worked. This was a fantastic, if not a perfect revenge. No longer would those despicable dinos get in the way of his plans, and even if they would figure out he was behind it, they would be absolutely lacking in any strength to even attempt to fight him. He was about to scan the outskirts of the village when he heard a quick knock on the door.

"Lord Kamek!" an alarmed cry was heard from the other side of the door. Kamek quickly waved his hand over the crystal ball to dissipate the vision.

Kamek sighed loudly as he got off his chair. He grabbed his magic wand and waved it towards the door to open it. On the other side was a green shy guy that was already shrinking away at the sight of him.

"You have five seconds to state your business before you face the consequences of rudely disturbing me like this," he coldly warned the shy guy as he slowly tapped the other end of the sceptre in his free hand.

"We-well, sir, I-I came to report a something strange that happened today," the shy guy stuttered under the gaze of the magikoopa. "There's been a peculiar abundance of fruits that's appeared all over the island. Most of the shy guy patrols are concerned about this as this could attract yoshis!"

Kamek regarded the tense shy guy for a while as he stopped tapping his wand. "An abundance of fruits?" he then asked back.

"Y-yes, sir, even where there are no trees! It's like they fell from the sky."

Kamek rubbed his jaw. "Very interesting…" he mused. He was fairly certain of what could have caused that. That Super Happy Tree was more than likely to be responsible for this. It could very well be some form of plant emergency reaction to having been relocated from its original spot.

"S-sir," the shy guy meekly spoke up, fidgeting nervously, "the yosh-"

"Oh they're not problem anymore," Kamek interrupted with a dismissive hand gesture. "You may leave," he then said as he used a simple magic spell to shut the door in the shy guy's face. He heard the shy guy cry out in pain as he had probably been slammed in the face, but that was a suitable punishment for bothering him about such a trivial matter.

Well, not _entirely_ trivial. This piqued his interest in the Super Happy Tree. Perhaps he should allocate some time to research that tree right now.

_**oOoOoOo**_

"Alright, let's try this one more time! We gotta time it just right!" Cerule enthusiastically said as he rubbed his hands. "You're really good at doing those high jumps so if we can time it right we can do a cross front flip as a finish to our dance."

"Sounds risky, though," Albin replied, doing some small hops to warm himself up. He wasn't too good with acrobatics, but with enough air he might have enough time. "I don't wanna crash into you again."

Cerule did a quick front flip out of a small practice jump. "It'll be fine. Once the village is cured we gotta give them the best victory dance we can do, right?"

"Right," Albin acknowledged with a nod.

"Okay, let's- oh…" Cerule then trailed off when he looked past Albin. "Oh! They're back!" he then cried out with a wide smile.

Albin looked over his should and turned around to see the rest of the yoshis having return pulling a large amount of fruits with them. His eyes widened at the apples, bananas, watermelons, grapes and cantaloupes that were all mixed together in a bright colourful pile. "Whoa…" he uttered in awe.

"Wow, you guys!" Cerule exclaimed with a short jump. "You worked really hard!" The sight of the large pile immediately started to wet his appetite

Walder gave the light blue yoshi a thumbs up. "Thanks, buddy!"

"It will be nice to put this nightmare to rest," Gulric said, proudly looking up at the pile.

"See all those cantaloupes?" Reddic pointed at the top of the pile, smirking, "those're all thanks to _me_!"

Blouise rolled her eyes. "Yes, we know. You're very proud over winning that footrace against that Lakitu."

"HEY!" Reddic yelled, glaring at the blue yoshi. "I managed to not only get us more fruits, but I took out more of them evil bad guys on the way! What matters is that I showed that cloudy guy that I am the boss!"

Blouise stood her ground against the red yoshi. "Yes, that's very nice. I'll make sure that the adults know specifically which fruits you gathered," she said back to him with sarcasm. "In fact, maybe we should all convince them to make a statue out of you for winning one race against a Lakitu." Cerule could see that she was clearly tired of Reddic.

"Are you mocking me?" Reddic growled.

"Well, I think he did a good job," Fusia piped up, poking her index fingers together. She just wanted to defuse the situation before it got out of hand.

"Alright guys," Walder called out loudly, trying to get every yoshi's attention to him. "I think we should all have a snack after this morning's-"

"It's well past noon, Walder," Gulric corrected, having crossed his arms.

Walder shot the yellow yoshi an annoyed look before continuing. "-after this noooooooon's work. And once we're done with that juicy snack, we're all dragging this fruit pile into the village!"

Reddic was the only one who visibly frowned. "But Dummy and Squeaky haven't done anyth-" His quickly looked towards the fruit pile. "HEY! DON'T TOUCH THOSE, COLOURLESS!" he suddenly screamed when he saw Albin approaching the fruits.

The white yoshis yelped in fright and jumped away. "I wasn't gonna!"

"Reddic would you stop it?" Walder told him. "You're ruining the moment."

Reddic glared at the green yoshi while pointing accusingly at the white yoshi. "THAT WHITE MISTAKE WILL RUIN ALL THOSE FRUITS IF HE TOUCHES THEM!" He looked around to see all of the yoshis giving him angry looks. "Oh, sure, make me the bad guy here, won't you?" he growled at them.

"You need to let that stupid theory go, Reddic." Gulric had a serious tone when he said that. He took a step back when he saw the red yoshi send a glare his way.

"You're going too far now," Walder said, "Just because Albin looks weird doesn't mean everything can be blamed on him."

"Walder!" Cerule cried, "Albin is NOT weird!" He stamped his foot to emphasize his point. He looked around to see where the white yoshi was, and saw that he was walking away with his head down. "Albin is my friend and I'm not gonna let any of you be a jerk to him!"

Walder looked away for a short while, and then back at Cerule. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," he quickly apologized. "Albin!" he then hollered. "Come back here!"

"Just let him go away," Reddic grumbled, having slightly shrunk back from every yoshis' disapproving gazes. He crossed his arms and looked down on the ground, muttering something about the other yoshis better staying away from _his_ cantaloupes.

"Albin!" Gulric called out as well, "come on now. A fruit will cheer you up!"

Seeing Albin's lack of response, Cerule ran up to the fruit pile and snagged some watermelons and grapes from it and ran after the white yoshi. It was a little difficult balancing the fruits ins his arms, but he eventually caught up with him.

"Albin, I brought some yummies!" he said enthusiastically before he accidentally dropped the watermelons, only leaving the bunch of grapes in his grasp.

Albin looked over his shoulder for a short while, and then turned away from Cerule. "Maybe it's all true…"

Cerule put the grapes down next to the melons and forcibly turned Albin around to face him. "No, it is NOT! You had nothing to do with the village and I will not hear a single word of you blaming yourself!"

Albin sighed and sat down. He looked past Cerule to see that the other yoshis had begun to get some fruit snacks and seemed to have a somewhat awkward time. At least Reddic had decided to sit a bit of a distance away from the other four yoshis.

"You should join th-"

"No, I will not!" Cerule interrupted him, shoving a watermelon into Albin's lap. "You are my friend and I'm not going to let anything get in between us."

Albin looked at the watermelon and forced a smile. "…thanks, Cerule. You've always been a good friend."

Cerule returned the smile and sat down next to Albin, picking up a bunch of grapes. "Look, once everything's over and the village is back to normal, we'll all laugh about what an idiot Reddic is." He loudly gulped down half of the grape bunch. "And Albin," he then said, "I'll always be your friend."

Albin took in those words and smiled for real this time.


End file.
